GEOL326

This is an interdisciplinary course in which students use paleontology and sedimentology to interpret ancient environments and the ecosystems they supported. Students begin with a brief review of aspects of geology required for paleontological studies: geologic time, plate tectonics, and sedimentary rocks and their depositional environments. There is also a review of evolutionary theory and ecological and paleoecological principles. Following this, the course is split into two sections. First, there is an overview of the major depositional environments, the typical fossil organisms that are found preserved in them, the process of fossilization, and how the ecosystems of particular environments have changed through time. This is followed by a survey of the history of settings, and use paleontological (biological) and sedimentological (geological) data to reconstruct the paleoecology and ancient physical environment. Lab sessions include fossil identification and analysis and several field visits to sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Lab Fee. This is cross listed with BIOL-326.